All-Black Woman Mississippi Football Officials Make History

JACKSON, Miss. (AP)—When Murrah opens the Mississippi highschool soccer season Friday towards Cleveland Central at South Jackson Area, the matchup will function the primary all-female crew to officiate highschool soccer within the state.

And will probably be an all-Black feminine crew, which, The Clarion Ledger reported, could also be a nationwide first.

“From every thing that we’ve been capable of collect from the Nationwide Federation of State Excessive Faculty Associations, we really feel like that’s the first time that there’s been an all-female Black officiating crew in a highschool soccer sport,” MHSAA assistant director Greg Freeman mentioned. “I feel it goes to point out that we don’t discriminate towards anybody. We would like anybody that wishes to come back out and be part of the sport and be an official. We would like them to come back out and work laborious.”

“It’s wonderful and it’s overwhelming on the similar time,” mentioned Adrienne Barnes, a part of the crew, who’s coming into her nineteenth yr officiating youth and highschool sports activities in Mississippi. “That is our first time working all collectively on the sphere. We’ve identified one another. We’ve labored collectively in different sports activities however by no means on the sphere. Sometimes they by no means have a couple of feminine on the sphere.”

Ladies from throughout the state make up the crew that may officiate on the Murrah-Cleveland Central matchup, a part of the primary week of Mississippi Excessive Faculty Athletic Affiliation play. The ladies have labored a number of preseason scrimmages forward of Friday’s 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

MHSAA officers assigner Curtis Lowe mentioned every official will return to her respective crew the next week.

Barnes mentioned a problem from her son led her to become involved in officiating.

“He was 6 or 7 years outdated and I used to be fussing at an umpire on the sphere,” she mentioned. “He mentioned ‘They’ve a extremely laborious job. I guess you gained’t do it.’”

Barnes mentioned she began to concentrate on forming an all-female crew final fall. Related crews work in Oregon and Texas.

The MHSAA has practically 50 ladies refereeing highschool soccer video games, Freeman mentioned.

“All of them work on Friday nights,” Lowe mentioned. “Simply don’t work collectively and I made a decision to get them the chance. Seven ladies collectively.”

Barnes has labored with former MHSAA official and present NFL referee Sarah Thomas, who grew to become the primary girl to officiate within the Tremendous Bowl in 2021.

Barnes hopes that Friday’s sport will assist open extra doorways for girls in officiating.

“I hope that extra ladies get invited to the larger present. I hope that extra minority ladies get alternatives since you don’t see lots of us, even in ladies’s sports activities on the greater ranges. That’s disappointing and it’s type of lonely, to not have somebody there who really understands the place you might be,” she mentioned.

Barnes shall be joined on the sphere by Sarah Fleming, Sherri Vaughans, Fran Adams, Felicia Davis, Alona Alexander and Dominique Sutton together with clock operators Phylicia Cotten and Constance Clark and chain crew Tamika Lipsey, Timika Morris and Charmaine Smith.

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